Reached breaking point!

It’s so hard,  ask my every day why.  Why waste all that money on trying to win.   And the awful thing is. I’ve won in past then gambled it all away.   You can move on from this.  We have to except that the money is gone .. we are starting from 0.  The only way is to stop now.  Put all the stops in place.   The helpline chat is amazing. It put me on to a counselling program very quickly,  I am 4 weeks in to no gambling. So very raw.  But the relief of waking up every day knowing I didn’t gamble the night before is soo good.  Small steps. I also didn’t tell my husband until last weekend. Oh the shame.  I have lost excactly the same amount as you.  Dealing with that for last year secretly has been horrendous.  I thought I could pay it back.  You Can’t. You need help to do this.   But you have to start from 0 and work your way. Up.  You can do this.  This is a wonderful platform to start.  You’re not alone.  We hate ourselves every minute. But we can get through this.  X

Gambling on credit cards was banned back in 2016 If I remember correctly

So unless you've gone around the mulberry bush to do it you may be able to charge that 500 quid back  

Rest is long gone and as you acknowledged a long uphill trek working to sort the mess out ( we've all been there ) 

Give it up focus on the present day by day 

@05ytv7uixg thank you so much. It’s good to hear from someone who is in the same position! I wish you the best of luck! X

@287hzyl0pq thank you. Most of my debt has been wracked up on a credit card! One of my cards (Barclaycard) wouldn’t let me use it on the sites, but another card had no stops in place. I lost £3000 in a day on it once. Took out loans to pay it off & kept maxing out again. I’m back up to the limit now! All on competition websites! I didn’t know if they’re strictly classed as gambling, because you have to answer a very simple question to enter the class themselves as ‘skill based competition sites’? So I’m presuming maybe they’re exempt from the laws - although clearly recognised by Barclaycard!

Am really sorry to hear what u are going through, however with the right support and blocks in place things can improve for u when i started using this site my turning point was when i took £5000 loan out and lost it all in one night was my turning point as it something i never did since gambling from around 2006 this was exactly 492 days ago i decided enough was enough and i wanted to change i got myself on here and since been regularly using that chatrooms and ready the forum i realised i am not alone and many people are suffering with this illness, i have learnt alot coming on here and im just 1 bet away from a disaster however just spending sometime on here is all it taken to keep me away, the first few weeks were very tough as i was most vulnerable however not only my life 100% better i appreciate each day without gambling, their is light at the end i appreciate the few regulars who keep pushing me forward to stay clean as it the only place which values each day you go without gambling if i do slip am fully aware the helpful people would help me get back onto my feet so their no pressure, ive learnt to be honest with myself and if what ever happens in the future i know their people on here who keep me on the right track